In 2001, I was working at a company that had a very liberal flex-time policy, so by the time I woke up on September 11, John Dennis and Gerry Callahan of WEEI radio were already reporting on a plane that had crashed into the upper floors of the World Trade Center. For a few more minutes, for me at least, the world remained the same, as the news being reported focused on filling in the details of what was probably an accident.
The people killed on American Flight 11 and in the North Tower would never have any idea about why they were killed. Neither would the people involved in the South Tower and the Pentagon attacks that would occur a few minutes later. And even the passengers and crew on United Flight 175 and American Flight 77, who knew at this point they were personally under siege, didn't know they had been drawn into a multi-pronged attack on the United States.